1. Figurative Language and Poetic Devices

2. Figurative Language
Figurative language communicates ideas beyond the literal meaning of words.
FIGURATIVE: She left the room like a cheetah chasing its prey.
LITERAL MEANING/IDEA EXPRESSED: She left the room quickly.
Writers use these tools to communicate descriptions and abstract ideas to the reader in a way that’s creative and, sometimes, even more truthful than literal language. =

3. You are the wind beneath my wings.
FIGURATIVE: Your support and friendship helps me in my life.
LITERAL: You are actually wind underneath my wings.

4. Figurative Language
Figurative language communicates ideas beyond the literal meaning of words.
FIGURATIVE
After our fight at the mall, every time I saw my best friend I was walking on egg shells.
WHAT IS THE DECODED MEANING OF THIS SENTENCE?

5. Figurative Language
However, what’s tricky for readers is that we must often decode the figurative language into literal language to understand the writer’s meaning.
In English III, beyond just identifying “that’s a metaphor” or “that’s personification”, we want to think about the writer’s purpose:
WHY did the writer use that particular figurative language or device?
WHAT IDEA is he or she trying to express?

6. 1. SIMILE
used to compare two different things or ideas using like or as.
His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances, like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
What’s being compared in this simile?
What’s the purpose? What idea is the writer expressing?

7. 2. METAPHOR ~ William Shakespeare
a figure of speech which makes a direct or implied comparison (without like or as) between two things or ideas that are poles apart from each other but where the writer notices a shared characteristic between them
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…
~ William Shakespeare
What’s being compared in this metaphor?
What’s the purpose? What idea is the writer expressing?

8. The difference between similes and metaphors
Simile: Ryan is as hungry as a bear. OR Ryan is like a hungry bear.
Metaphor: Ryan is a real bear when he gets hungry.

9. IMPLIED METAPHOR
is a metaphor that is not as obvious because it’s not explicitly stated using the verb “is”
My Kentucky-fried skin was red after too many hours in the sun. =

10. IMPLIED METAPHOR …
is a metaphor that is not as obvious because it’s not explicitly stated using the verb “is”
“Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.”
~MLK, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
What’s being compared in this metaphor?
What’s the purpose? What idea is the writer expressing?

11. IMPLIED METAPHOR Often a VERB is used to make an implied metaphor.
She drove cruel rumors about me all over the school, denting and smashing my reputation to pieces.
What’s being compared to what in this metaphor?
What’s the purpose? What idea is the writer expressing?

12. WEAK similes or metaphors…
occur when we attempt to compare two things that are too similar or that belong to the same category.
The dirty pond was like a polluted river.
The old oak tree was the earth of our backyard.
Her face was an oval of flesh.
It's just apples versus oranges, and it's not a level playing field by any means.

13. Dead or Clichéd Metaphors/Similes
back against the wall
the ball’s in your court
as big as a house
bite the bullet
as busy as a bee
cool as a cucumber
to be on fire
fit as a fiddle
like a deer in the headlights
go the extra mile
heart of gold
throw your hat in the ring
turn over a new leaf
light at the end of the tunnel
to open a Pandora’s box
as pure as snow
ships that pass in the night
a thorn in my side
These figures of speech--and there are many more--are fine to use in every day conversation, but we want to avoid them in our writing because they’ve lost their force and imaginative effectiveness because of frequent use.

14. 3. PERSONIFICATION
A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstract concepts are given human qualities.

16. Death walked in the door and refused to leave.

17. 3. PERSONIFICATION MIRROR by Sylvia Plath I am silver and exact.
I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful--
What’s being given what human qualities?

18. 3. PERSONIFICATION
Common phrases not technically considered true personification:
shoulder of the road
the wind blows
foot of the bed
the birds sing
hands of the clock
the grass grows
arm of the chair
the body of an essay
legs of the table

19. 4. HYPERBOLE
Using exaggeration--something that could never actually happen--for emphasis or effect.
I could sleep for a year.

20. 4. HYPERBOLE
My English III textbook weighs a ton.

21. 4. HYPERBOLE
“…when you have cursed the wind for its effect on a ball; when you’ve had the pressure of an entire game on your foot—then you will understand what it’s like to be a kicker.” ~excerpt from Kevin M.’s MLK periodic sentence
Where is the hyperbole in this passage?
What truth is the writer attempting to express?

22. What idea is this guy in the waiting room expressing by making this hyperbolic statement?

23. 5. allusion
an indirect or implied reference to a person, place, event, or idea already known by the reader/audience from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, or popular culture
“We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts.” ~Patrick Henry’s Speech to the Virginia Convention
Most often writers use allusions as a simile or metaphor, such as the example above where Patrick Henry is comparing the guile of the British to Circe in The Odyssey.

24. 5. allusion
Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear. How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air. T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair. But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her, her, her....yeah.
~ lyrics from Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On”
What other work is being alluded to in this song?
What’s the purpose of this allusion? What does this choice show about the girl the speaker met and what happened in their relationship?

25. 6. Parallel Structure
using the same grammatical structure or pattern of words, phrases, or clauses to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance
NOT PARALLEL:
Ellen likes hiking, the rodeo, and to take afternoon naps.
A little more Parallel:
Ellen likes hiking, attending the rodeo, and taking afternoon naps.
Best:
Ellen likes hiking mountains, attending rodeos, and taking naps.

26. 6. Parallel Structure
using the same grammatical structure or pattern of words, phrases, or clauses to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance
WE REAL COOL by Gwendolyn Brooks
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We (one-syllable verb, one-syllable adjective)
Strike straight. We (one-syllable verb, one-syllable adjective)
Sing sin. We (one-syllable verb, one-syllable noun)
Thin gin. We (one-syllable verb, one-syllable noun)
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
In this poem, it’s not just the repetition of the word “we” that give this parallel structure.

27. Poetic Sound Devices

28. 1. ALLITERATION Don't dream it. Drive it.
the repetition of consonant SOUNDS at the beginning of the strongest stressed syllable in a word--most of the time this means the beginning of a word.
Don't dream it. Drive it.
Jaguar advertising slogan

29. 1. ALLITERATION Example: Below the belt
the repetition of consonant SOUNDS at the beginning of the strongest stressed syllable in a word--most of the time this means the beginning of a word.
Example: Below the belt
This is actually not great alliteration because in the word “Below” the stress falls on the SECOND syllable of the word, which starts with “l”.

30. 1. ALLITERATION Example: Above the belt
the repetition of consonant SOUNDS at the beginning of the strongest stressed syllable in a word--most of the time this means the beginning of a word.
Example: Above the belt
Though these words begin with different letters, their stressed syllables begin with the same letter, so we hear alliteration.

31. 1. ALLITERATION Example: The Physics of fish is fun!
It’s important to remember that alliteration is about the repetition of consonant SOUNDS, not letters.
Example: The Physics of fish is fun!
Though “Physics” and “fish” start with different letters, they alliterate because they begin with the same sound.

32. 1. ALLITERATION Not Alliteration: Thin Tin…
It’s important to remember that alliteration is about the repetition of consonant SOUNDS, not letters.
Not Alliteration: Thin Tin…
Though both words begin with the consonant “t”, they don’t begin with same SOUND.

33. 1. ALLITERATION
To truly alliterate, the repeating sounds must be close together (back to back) OR if spread out, there must be multiple repetitions of the sound
Not Alliteration: Please tell me just where you’d like to play.
Legit Alliteration: Please tell Pam that it’s time to play and practice.

34. 2. ASSONANCE
the repetition of vowel sounds within neighboring words (So, not the same as words at the ends of lines rhyming.) Assonance creates INTERNAL rhyming.
I bomb atomically. Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses can't define how I be droppin' these mockeries.
from the Wu-Tang Clan’s "Triumph"

35. 2. ASSONANCE the repetition of vowel sounds within words
Who fuses the music With no illusions Producing the blue prints Clueless? Automator - defy the laws of nature Electronic monolith throw a jam upon the disc The futuristic looper with the quickness Hyper-producin' hydrogen fusion liquids—
keep your distance
from Del The Funky Homosapien’s “Mastermind"

36. 2. ASSONANCE Assonance?: Treat the bread Nothing gold can stay
Like alliteration, this is about the repetition of a SOUND, not letters.
Assonance?:
Treat the bread
Nothing gold can stay
Though these words contain the same vowels, the SOUNDS are different.

37. 2. ASSONANCE Assonance? Should sugar A queasy sweep
Like alliteration, this is about the repetition of a SOUND, not letters.
Assonance?
Should sugar
A queasy sweep
Though these words contain different vowels, the SOUNDS are the same.

38. 3. ONOMATOPOEIA
a word that imitates the sound it represents